White glass panels on plexiglass

My latest project is a doozy: 4 panels approximately 9-/2 by 22-1/2 inches that I'll be installing on track in the window well (below). The brief: Allow light and airflow while creating privacy. Make it easy to clean, incorporate the white of the window frame and as well as the rectangles. I'm using a plexiglass substrate, which is new for me and Lexel to glue the stained glass and vitreous tile. I made a tiny model of one panel in a recent class with Sonia King, teacher extraordinaire:



I can't set the exact size of the panels until I find the track system I'll use, and I can't do that until I find out how thick the plexi needs to be. Then, I've got to replace that oak window sill, which is wrecked from years of diesel soot. I've got a piece of vertical-grain douglas fir just waiting for a sunny couple of days, which I hope happens this week. The trip to Tap plastics is planned for tomorrow, and then to a hardware store for the track.

After all that, I will be all out of excuses.

Angler fish, candle holder, turtle

I'm in LA, visiting my brother without the fish mosaic I'm making for him. In a fit of productivity, I finished that mosaic, the small turtle I did as a sectile study, and the candle holder I started with Bella and Emily long ago. Grouting the candle holder and the turtle was easy. I used Custom's black cherry for both of them. The tiny vitreous glass tile on the candle holder seemed to be designed to go with the black cherry grout:



I used weldbond to adhere the tiny tiles, and a couple popped off. Not impressed with Weldbond for this application. Next time I'll try Lexel.

The turtle was entirely quick, fun and easy to make, something to keep in mind as I find my way in mosaics: I like fun and easy and no planning. I get a generous helping of well-planned, detailed, difficult, long-term in other areas of my life. Not sure I love the black cherry grout as much as I'd have liked something lighter to unify the background. I can see that every aspect of a mosaic has an effect - the color and pattern of the glass, the laying pattern, the width and direction of the grout lines.

Cleaning the "free" glass

I've just finished washing and sorting 39 shoe boxes of stained glass pieces. The largest pieces are 6x12 inches; the smallest are dime-sized. This is what comes of saying "yes" to "free." Genius or insanity? Time will tell. Here are some pictures of the process:







And the finished product:



I'm glad that's done.

Rainbow smalti; marble and stone study

You know how there is always someone in class who seems to know just what to do, finishes way ahead of everybody, then starts and finishes a new project while everybody else is still laboring away on their first one? This weekend, for the first time ever, that was me.

I jammed through my first 8" x 8" smalti piece using the starter pack provided, plus whatever I could scrounge from the instructor's pack, as well as some of her dichroic glass scraps and a couple smalti swaps with fellow students. Here's how far I'd gotten at the end of the first day of class:



On Day 2, I finished, with hours to spare:



Instructor and mosaic artist extraordinaire, Laurel True, suggested I do another smaller piece using mixed media. Then she pulled out bins of stone, marble, ceramic tile, glass blobs and stained glass. I wavered between the stained glass and stone, ultimately deciding not to choose:



I was hoping I wouldn't much like smalti, as it's expensive, but that's not what happened. It was a blast! So was the marble and stone I used. The dichroic glass is magic.

Which means every material I've used so far has been my favorite.

Did I mention that dichroic glass is even more expensive than smalti?

Louie, the salt shaker

Here's my second mosaic from an Intro to Mosaic class at IMA. The class was all about ceramic tile - how to shatter, cut, shape and piece it. The moment the instructor held up Louie, I knew I had to use him.



I'm continuing my tour of mosaic materials: This weekend's class in Intro to Smalti. I'm hoping to hate it, as smalti is so expensive and I've already given my heart to stained glass. I'd like to be able to cross at least one type of tesserae off my list, but that doesn't seem to be the direction this is going.

Revenge of the grandkids!

Two of my partner's grandkids came for the weekend and we spent much of the time in the studio where they created 2 pieces each. Here are all 4 pieces together:



From left to right are Emily's (9 years old) mirror and candle holder, followed by Bella's (11 year's old) vase and mirror. Here are close-ups of each girl's work; the first are Bella's who has an elegant sense of color, don't you think?:



And here are Emily's, which show what's possible when you are willing to go for it:



Bella cleaned the glue off the front of Emily's mirror after the mastic set up, which made it look fantastic. I grouted her candle holder in charcoal, a challenge since she'd used the reverse side of the 3/8" vitreous tiles. (She and Bella came in just after I applied the grout and were horrified at what I'd done! Big test of their trust in me when I promised it would look better after I'd excavated the extra grout.) Didn't get a picture of the finished product, but I love the way it looks with the charcoal grout and the grooves in the tiles. I want to put the vitreous tile upside down now. Thanks for leading the way, Emily.

I was impressed by their focus, concentration and their eye for design and color. I got quite a bit of practice cutting vitreous and mirror tiles, which was just what I needed. It was such a pleasure to have them in the studio.

Which I'd just finished cleaning up moments before they arrived as my contractor neighbor Vern (who is fantastic!) had just finished installing the exhaust fan. This studio breaks all the rules: there is no natural light and no natural ventilation! I'll post pictures as soon as I've cleaned up from the weekend. :-) I'm now officially open for "business," and friends ae clamoring to spend time in there. We are going to have such a fun summer.

This coming weekend, I'm taking "Introduction to Smalti" at the Institute of Mosaic Art (IMA). In an astonishing twist of fate, the IMA is only 7 minutes away and has plenty of parking. That's fate, baby. Fate.

The first mosaic: Spiral

Here's the one that started it all, made in a glass mosaic class in May 2010:



I'd do a bazillion things differently now, of course, if only I possessed the skill, patience and design sense. I'm working on those.

Krixter vs. TME - It's ON!

I want link to Krixter's art blog. I figure we can harass and compete with each other online, which will get us each posting and attaching photos and videos. Yes, I typed videos, Krixter. Videos. Of you working in your space. Of me struggling to breathe in mine (because it's a storage space with no ventilation. Or light).

This mosaic thing has me by the short hairs, which is a complete surprise. Because I hate tiling. I hate grouting. I just check out every time I've done it. I get bored silly by all that alignment and the even spacing and the regimented, perfect little rows. Apparently what makes the all difference for me is smashing the tiles with a hammer first. Because just adhering a whole tile is too easy, I guess. But piecing all the little pieces together? That's fun.

And that's just tile. The attraction with glass is the way it feels when it explodes harmlessly in my hand, and with how bewitching all those colors are. I don't know yet about smalti and marble, but I'm enrolled in classes that will help me find out.